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As of now, 11 companies and credit institutions have filed applications to obtain licenses for gold bar production and import of gold input materials, up by two units from the figure announced by the State Bank of Vietnam at the start of 2026. This information was provided by Mr. Đào Xuân Tuấn, head of the Foreign Exchange Management Department at the State Bank of Vietnam, at a press conference announcing Q1 2026 banking results held on the afternoon of April 14. According to Mr. Tuấn, the applications are being reviewed in accordance with regulations by the State Bank in coordination with relevant ministries and agencies. The licensing results will be announced after the review process is completed. A representative of the State Bank also said that the domestic gold market has recently experienced volatility, and authorities are implementing measures to stabilize the market. In particular, considering granting licenses to additional units to participate in gold bar production and import of raw materials is viewed as one of the potential solutions that could affect supply, thereby influencing the domestic gold price gap relative to international markets in the near future. Previously, under Decree 232, there would be no state monopoly in gold bar production. Instead, the regulator would license this activity to eligible enterprises and banks. Banks and enterprises seeking a license to produce gold bars must have a license to buy and trade this commodity. They must also meet capital requirements: for enterprises, at least 1,000 billion dong; for banks, at least 50,000 billion dong. In addition, these units must not be under administrative penalties for gold trading or, if penalized, must have remedied the consequences. They also need internal regulations for gold bar production such as procedures for inputting materials, production, supervision, and quality control. Currently, 38 enterprises and banks are licensed to trade gold bars. However, by current charter capital, only a number of leading enterprises with charter capital of 1,000 billion dong or more, such as PNJ, DOJI, and SJC, are among them. On the banking side, Vietcombank, VPBank, Techcombank, BIDV, MB, VietinBank and Agribank are in the group with charter capital above 50,000 billion dong.
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